Today's sponsors: North Sails, Atlantis WeatherGear, and The Pirates Lair.

THE STATE OF MATCH RACING IN NORTH AMERICA
Following the U.S. women winning two of the three match racing medals last
week in Spain at the third event of the ISAF Sailing World Cup, Dave Perry
(Chairman of the US SAILING Match Racing Committee) provides this report on
the state of match racing in the U.S. and surrounding North American region
(including Canada, Bermuda and the U.S. Virgin Islands).
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There are literally thousands of people involved in match racing as
competitors, umpires, race officials and event organizers in the North
American region, and those numbers are set to grow exponentially in the
next few years.

Match racing events are graded 1-5 by ISAF, Grade 5 being the local level
match race events and Grade 1 being the most professional with cash prizes
and the most prestige. National championships and events with a wide
geographic range of competitors are Grade 3, and Grade 2 events are
international events with some of the top ranked skippers, and often with
cash prizes and/or automatic entry into Grade 1 or the World Match Racing
Tour events.

Number of Graded events doubled.
One indication of the growth in match racing in this region is that from
2007 to 2010 the number of graded match racing events nearly doubled, from
34 to 65 events! In 2011, there will be three Open Grade 1 events and five
Women's Grade 1 events; seven Open Grade 2 events, and over 25 Open and
Women's Grade 3 events. To learn more about the events in 2011, go to the
US SAILING Calendar at
www.ussailing.org/Calendar/results.asp?categoryid=17.

Women's match racing.
Another indication of the growth is the level of interest in Women's match
racing. Women's match racing is an event in the Summer Olympic Games in
2012 for the first time. There were ten teams signed up for the 2011
January Qualifier Event to make the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics, and more
teams have formed since then. There are many women's match racing events,
including clinics, in the region. A great source of information on women's
match racing, including a very comprehensive Calendar, is the Women's
International Match Racing Association (WIMRA) at www.wimra.org. For a
detailed pathway for women wanting to get involved and quickly raise their
game in match racing in 2011, I have put together a program called the Road
to Rio. You can view it at the US SAILING match racing website:
racing.ussailing.org/Match_Racing.htm.

EVENT SPONSORSHIP - LIKE IT OR NOT
By Bill Sandberg, WindCheck
I've written about this subject before in my column, but it never hurts to
revisit it. As anyone who has ever run a major regatta will tell you, the
cost of running one has risen dramatically in the last ten years.

Promoting the event in magazines like WindCheck, press releases to major
media outlets, Tweeting and Facebooking, free food for post sailing
participants, online scoring; these are all things that didn't exist ten
years ago, or weren't expected. They are wonderful tools that help make the
regatta a success, but they come with additional costs attached. Some seem
to think you can just raise the entry fee to the sailors. Those who believe
that to be so are likely running failing events.

Sponsorship has become an important factor when running a successful
regatta. In Europe, sponsorship is de rigeur in sailing. Major companies
are involved in supporting the sport, and they obviously feel they are
getting the proper bang for their buck. And these companies are not just
in-kind sponsors (product only). They come with cash. You know, that stuff
that helps pay for the things that make an event a success. However, some
yacht clubs continue to believe that sponsorship is an evil thing. Still
others are happy to take the money and run and are shocked that their
sponsor elects not to return the following year.

So how do you get a sponsor and keep him happy, while not upsetting your
members because there are a few signs hanging for a couple of days? Focus
on companies that would benefit from sponsoring your event - ones with good
names that will enhance the branding of the event. I can tell you, for
instance, that any event that has Rolex or Mount Gay Rum as a sponsor is
letting the entrants know that it will be a first-class event.

Next, scour your membership list for members who are executives at
companies you think would make a good sponsor. Unfortunately, our sport
does not have the demographic data available that many others do, so you
need to find someone who understands the value of reaching this upscale
market - one who understands that, first and foremost, it is about brand
building. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/WC-041111

SEE YOU IN CHARLESTON!
North Sails is proud to be a sponsor of 2011 Sperry Top-Sider Charleston
Race Week. We will have a sponsor tent onsite with over 25 North
representatives racing in the event and on hand each night after racing.
North is offering free weather forecasts for CRW and we are hosting panel
discussions Friday night for the offshore classes and Saturday night for
one-design inshore classes. Come see us! http://na.northsails.com

EAST & WEST: North Sails & Southern Spars have partnered with Sailing
Weather Service to provide free weather forecasts for the Charleston Race
Week in the east (April 14-17) or the Newport-Ensenada Race in the west
(April 15 - 17). To sign up, visit the North Sails online weather center
(and check out our new web site!)
http://www.na.northsails.com/tabid/7240/Default.aspx

DON'T LEAVE THE LIGHTS ON FOR TAILENDERS
By Elaine Bunting, Yachting World
As the leaders of the doublehanded Open 60 Barcelona World Race finish
their circumnavigation in Spain, the tail end yacht is half the world
behind and perilously isolated in the Southern Ocean. It has highlighted a
serious loophole in the race rules that threatens to undermine the event's
safety, one the race director agrees needs to be changed.

The last place team of Fran Palacio and Juan Merediz on Central Lechera
Asturiana reported 60 knots of wind and a huge sea state as they battled
their way back to New Zealand with a broken ring frame. It follows 25 days
in port in Wellington (NZL) in March as the pair had their broken mast
rebuilt by Southern Spars and made other major repairs.

This lengthy stop left them nearly 5,000 miles behind the next placed boat
and saw them returning to the Southern Ocean dangerously late in its autumn
season.

Renewed pressure is being put on the pair to retire from the race. Race
director Denis Horeau told me: "It's a nonsense. It puts everybody in a bad
situation: the competitors and the organisers."

The rules of the Barcelona World Race state that yachts making a stop for
repairs after Tasmania must take a 48-hour time penalty, but nowhere do
they refer to a maximum time in port. It was simply never envisaged that a
crew would spend almost a month carrying out a mini refit, although in
hindsight the option was going to appeal most to tailenders whose victory
is in finishing the course. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/YW-041111

ROUNDING VERSUS PASSING A MARK
When the sailing instructions do not identify which marks are rounding
marks as required by the rules, boats are not required to treat any marks
as rounding marks. When this omission results in some boats sailing farther
than others, those boats may be entitled to redress. Here is a recent
appeal from US SAILING:

Facts and Decision of the Protest Committee:
For PHRF Fleets S1 and S2, the course for Race 2 was course 21, described
in the sailing instructions as "RC Boat - 18 - 8 - 4 - Knox Finish" with
"All Marks Left to Port." The course diagram was not incorporated into the
sailing instructions. A change to the sailing instructions moving the
starting and finishing areas to the "race deck" was posted during a
postponement ashore.

The incidents described in the protests all involved how boats passed or
rounded mark 4. If mark 4 was a rounding mark (see rule 28.1(b)), then
boats would have been required to round mark 4 in such a way that a taut
string representing their tracks would touch the mark in order to comply
with rule 28.1 (see diagram in link below). If mark 4 was not a rounding
mark, then boats could have complied with rule 28.1 by merely passing mark
4 on their port sides (dashed-line course in the diagram).

After rounding mark 8, most boats sailed directly to the finishing area,
leaving mark 4 to port without rounding it. Other boats, including the
protestors, rounded mark 4 (doing a loop around it), leaving it to port,
and then sailed to the finish. Alpha Puppy and Jeannette protested all of
the boats in their respective fleets that left mark 4 to port without
rounding it.

The protest committee concluded that "the course was amended [by relocating
the finishing line] in such a way that allowed, as a practical matter, a
boat to travel from mark 8 to the finishing line while leaving mark 4 to
port." The protest committee reasoned that because the new finishing line
location meant that the "taut string" would not touch mark 4, "RRS 28.1 was
satisfied merely by passing it and leaving it to port." It dismissed the
protests, and both protestors appealed.

COUNTDOWN TO THE WORLDS
San Diego (April 10, 2011) - With the Etchells World Championship coming to
San Diego in June, 44 teams competed in the SLAM Etchells Midwinters West
Regatta to either gain an opportunity to train for the championship, or the
chance to measure up against the top teams that will be vying for that
title.

But with winter not ready to move out, the three day regatta experienced
colder and more varied conditions than is likely to occur in two months.
The constant, however, was the scoreline of 2008 World Champion Bill
Hardesty, who led the only team with all top ten scores after two days. The
pattern would continue on Sunday as they pulled a tenth to seal the victory
with a race to spare.

"We didn't have our full Worlds team," explained Hardesty, "so I wasn't
sure how it would go. Our tactician Steve Hunt was only able to sail the
first day, but Julie Servais fit into our group well." The rest of the
winning team included Mandi Markee and Craig Leweck. "It's one thing to win
a regatta like this, but maintaining this pace will be the real challenge
as we work toward the Worlds," noted Hardesty.

For the seventh and final race, the chase was for second with four teams in
contention, but NorCal's Craig Healy ended all doubt by winning the finale.

DISCOVER: A GREAT WAY TO SUCK UP TO YOUR BOWMAN
So you got some gear for the team. Some bibs, jackets - maybe a few spray
tops - and that's great! But when it's blowing dogs off chains and there's
water everywhere, that's not going to cut it for the folks up front. They
need the brand new Aegis Ocean Smock from Atlantis, and given the fact that
the water's still pretty cold, they need it soon! Check it out at
http://www.AtlantisWeatherGear.com/Aegis, and take good care of your
bowmen.
Discover life on the water. Discover your Atlantis

FLY ON THE WALL
The onboard Media Specialist was a new feature for the Volvo Ocean Race
2008-09, and their job was to provide the sights and sounds from each race
boat. But the position was new, and the execution of the plan was uneven.
The best of the bunch was PUMA's Ricky Deppe, which came as no surprise
given his experience in both sailing and adventure filming. For the 2011-12
race that starts October 29th, Rick has moved off the boat to oversee the
entire program. So who will be PUMA's Media Specialist for the next race?

"His name is Arden Oksanen," explains PUMA skipper Ken Read. "The media
part of this race is a huge deal for companies like PUMA, and it's one of
the big reasons why they get involved. They were really pleased with Ricky
Deppe. Our media was as good or better than any team during the last race,
and they wanted to step it up a notch.

"Arden comes from the extreme skiing, extreme surfing and extreme kayaking
world. He's the videographer who has to ski halfway down mountains in
remote regions of the Earth so that he can film the crazies as they go
flying off cliffs. He's clearly up to the challenge mentally - we just
gotta make sure that he's up to the challenge physically. He's only spent
about four days on a boat in his life, so it should be interesting." --
WindCheck, full story: http://tinyurl.com/WC-041111a

SAILING SHORTS
* Newport Beach, CA (April 10, 2011) - After three days of intense team
racing with conditions ranging from glassed off drifting to 25 knot hail
storms the team of Brian Doyle, Joel Hanneman, Charlie Enright, Garrett
Woodworth, Shane Wells, Monique Roeder, Maura Winston, and Roland Singer
from the New York Yacht Club rose to the top of the competition and claimed
victory in the 2011 Baldwin Cup Team Racing Regatta. Newport Harbor Yacht
Club hosted 11 teams from across the country and one team from the UK for
over 125 races, staged in Harbor 20 and sailed off the front dock the Club.
-- http://baldwincup.com

* The National Marine Manufacturers Association testified last week at a
State House hearing in Massachusetts on a bill requiring all adult boaters
to wear life jackets on board any boat under 20 feet while the boat is in
operation. Massachusetts law currently requires children under the age of
12 wear life jackets. NMMA opposes mandatory PFD wear for all adults on
vessels under 20 feet in length. -- Boating Industry, full story:
http://www.boating-industry.com/output.cfm?id=2738539

* The 2011 Student Yachting World Cup (SYWOC) qualifier for Canada will
take place May 20-22 at the Bronte Harbour Yacht Club in conjunction with
Oakville Yacht Squadron. As many as six teams can attend this regatta;
priority will be given to teams with serious intent to qualify for the
October 2011 SYWOC in La Trinite-sur-Mer. The qualifier will be sailed in
Sharks, teams are to be composed of a maximum of 3 people, and all crew
members must be from the same accredited University. Details:
http://tinyurl.com/CYA-041111

* After three regattas in the ISAF Sailing World Cup series, the overall
standings have been updated. The ISAF Sailing World Cup now heads to
Hyeres, France for the Semaine Olympique Francaise on April 22-29, the
fourth of seven regattas on the ISAF Sailing World Cup series. Current
standings here: http://www.sailing.org/35789.php

* (April 11, 2011; Day 16; 18:13 UTC) - Canadian ocean racer Derek Hatfield
has moved one step closer to shooting up the VELUX 5 OCEANS leaderboard
after winning the ocean sprint four timed run. Hatfield, a veteran of the
2002 VELUX 5 OCEANS as well as the 2008 Vendee Globe, shot through the
speed gates set between the latitudes 5 degrees S and 5 degrees N in two
days, 13 hours and 43 minutes to claim the full three bonus points. Leader
Brad Van Liew (USA) is 1841 nm from the finish in Charleston, USA, with a
margin of 162 nm on Hatfield. -- http://www.velux5oceans.com/

* CORRECTION: In last week's Ullman Sails ad, the sail inventory on the
Melges 24 "Valkyrie" was inaccurately portrayed. During their victory at
the Melges 24 San Diego Melges Week, "Valkyrie" competed with Ullman upwind
sails and North Sails spinnakers. Ullman Sails apologizes for this error.

FREE CLASSIFIED ADS
The Scuttlebutt Classified Ads provide a marketplace for private parties to
buy and sell, or for businesses to post job openings. Here are recent ads:

THAT BORDER RUN WAS WILD! NEWPORT-ENSENADA THIS WEEKEND!
Even if you miss the parties you can still get your apparel at The Pirates
Lair. Log on to http://www.pirateslair.com/SFNT.html for official event
gear, and cool Mount Gay Rum goodies. Use promo code "FIESTA" for a 10%
discount.

GUEST COMMENTARY
Scuttlebutt strongly encourages feedback from the Scuttlebutt community.
Either submit comments by email or post them on the Forum. Submitted
comments chosen to be published in the newsletter may be limited to 250
words. Authors may have one published submission per subject, and should
save their bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere.

* From Cameron McIntyre:
For those not watching Fairly Legal on USA network, the attractive mediator
Kate Reed lives aboard a ketch in San Francisco. So it's not a show about
sailors or sailing, but you'd love to be her dock neighbor.

* From Ari Barshi, Laser Training Center - Cabarete:
We all know the opportunities the Opti class offers. But here at the Laser
Training Center in Cabarete, working with 16 and 17 year old Radial
sailors, we also get to see the "other" side of the Opti program.

Many very talented kids outgrow the boat and become just too heavy to be
competitive - already at the age of 13. These sailors either suffer in
light and medium winds, or just quit. Those who continue to sail, or get
back into sailing later on, are in need of a major confidence boost, and
are never sure they are good enough. Many classes miss those who quit and
never return.

One solution to keep more children sailing is to race in fleets, based on
sailor's weight, keeping competition as even as possible in each weight
group. With ideas from other readers, maybe Scuttlebutt can send IODA a
wish list. The leaders of IODA have been doing an amazing job for years but
an outside view has its benefits, too.

CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION
"Writing is like prostitution. First you do it for love, and then for a few
close friends, and then for money." - Moliere, French playwright